Brewie

[cubsfan16]

If the water should not have been that high, I’m thinking it might be my high water pressure. I measured it and it’s right around 80psi, so I was planning on picking up a pressure reducer before I test again. I thought I read somewhere that high pressure could be a problem. I know it’s not good for a water filter performance. When the initial water came into the machine during my test it was splattering through the vents on top of the boil tank.

 

[Still Brewn]

Yes I think that would cause the issue also, I didn't think of that. Are you using a direct to plumbing connection or are you hooking it to a faucet? I have mine hooked to a faucet so I can switch between hot water and cold water. Makes heating strike water and sparge water a lot less time consuming. The only thing I don't like about doing that is the fact that it switches on and off my on demand water heater a number of times when it is getting close to the tanks being at the proper level of water. Anyway if you have a faucet connection you can try turning down the water. I do that while it is cooling the wort after the temp gets below 90° F or so. It saves a lot of water and cools just as fast. Didn't really pay attention to the exact temp but when the waste water starts coming out cold I start reducing the water flow. Our water temperature is right around 50° so I get a lot of cooling power from it and have plenty buffer between where I need the wort to be and my water temp. I have never clocked the time wort cooling takes but it is fast, Close to 10 minutes under 15.

 

[cubsfan16]

Yeah, I had a extra cold water hose bib plumbed in for my chiller on my other system so I have my supply water coming off of that. I ordered a 2-way splitter so I can add the pressure reducer to my brewie supply and have the other one unrestricted. I’ll see how that goes.

 

[Still Brewn]

Brewie app update

 

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Brewie software update....

 

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Be careful I'm caught in an endless cycle of reboots so for now disable WiFi access to your Brewie at your router. I will update when it works properly. Have tried 12 times already........

 

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13 times now

 

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They are updating the website tonight also, looks like they are adding a sous vide to the programming.... something I was looking forward to.

 

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New wires showed today for the boil tank.

Heatshrink I put on long studs visible. (Green)
Heat damage from poor connection.

Fan boil tank

 

[Still Brewn]

On the mash tank side there has been no additional heat damage since I installed the fans. You can see the discoloration of the connection but I have completed 2 brews since and additional overheating has not happened.

If you can see the studs in the upper left you can see I forgot to put on shrink tube..... just realized it while typing.

Mash tun fan

Fan wiring

You can see the blue and red connectors in the lower right. That is your 12 volt power supply. It is 3 amp. I am using .28 amps for my fans, just slightly more than a quarter of an amp. I plan on getting new base fans that use slightly less power but move just as much air in the very near future to replace the factory installed fans and then hooking the fans I installed to the factory switched power for the cooling system. I started looking but I get distracted real easy now days so the search got forgotten until tonight when I was installing wires.
Additional note: since installing fans there was no more heat damage than there was after my second brew.... discoloration you see is exactly how it looked after second brew.

 

[Still Brewn]

Well I'm on my 16th try of updating software and it is almost 3 in the morning..... I'm giving up for tonight after I send an email. You are warned.... don't let connect to the internet unless you are not planning on brewing for a while. Once it starts you are stuck.

 

[Still Brewn]

Brewie app is now on playstore

 

[Still Brewn]

Still stuck in the endless loop 14 hours after turning on my machine. This is one reason why I make beer! And now it has turned on me! WTF!

 

[cubsfan16]

Thanks for posting all the pictures of your fan setup. Much appreciated.

As for connection/update. My initial startup which included connecting to wifi took me like 7-8 tries to connect which makes me wonder if this is a wifi controller issue? I assume you dont have a wired connection handy to test? I was thinking about checking to see if that helps avoid my connection issues.

On a side note I received my pressure reducer and checked and confirmed my 80psi has been reduced to around 55psi which should be fine I expect. I plan run the test brew tomorrow....if I dont have the same connection issues.

 

[Ironcyberia]

Good job for the fan upgrade. I brew 2 batches this WE leaving the thermocouple I used at first for making the graph of terminal temp VS water temp. At full boill, so water at 100c and heater at maximum, terminals temperature never reached over 80Celcius, so well bellow the 105c max as the terminal are usualy rated. At my point of view this upgrade is the best thing to do for the long therm, without the fan, to burn thru the insulation of the terminal, terminal temp reach over 160c.

On the first boot of my Brewie, I configured the wifi and the machine tried to upgrade but always jam during the process, I decided to connect the machine using copper, and it work perfectly on third try. when I attemps to calibrate the pressure sensor, I did it without the ethernet cable, still on wifi, the calibration process jam too juste after the last water addition... so I connected the ethernet cable and it worked out. So maybe if you try to connect Your brewie using copper the upgrade might work?

 

[Still Brewn]

Yes , I did think of that, finally. After my first boot this morning I rummaged around and found a long enough cable and wired it up. I'm on my 5th try an no success so far. This is exactly why I don't let my computers, tv's, phones, bluray players, etc do automatic updates. I knew I should have firewalled it from the internet.

 

[Still Brewn]

Anybody get the update done today? Still no luck here.

 

[cubsfan16]

Just powered mine on, it searched for updates and booted up but still shows 3.0.16

 

[Still Brewn]

Maybe they took it back offline because of the issue. Máté emailed me back this morning but all he said was to wait for a little while. I did that and now I am rebooting it about once an hour to see if anything changes. I was hoping to brew tonight, I've had everything ready since Saturday and tried twice now to get it going.

 

[Still Brewn]

Anyone know if there is a factory reset like there is for most electronics nowdays? I did a search but didn't come up with anything.

 

[Still Brewn]

Finally..... 31 restarts and finally restarted so I can use it. Still old version but I don't care as long as I can use it. Disconnecting the internet to it and will wait until the new version has been out for a few weeks. Ruined 2 brew days but I'm not even mad the machine is running. I do have a new red x in the corner of the screen though.

Thanks for any help today.

 

[cubsfan16]

I see they just sent out an email stating v3.1 has been released.

 

[Still Brewn]

I will go turn on my machine and see if mine works properly now.....

 

[Still Brewn]

Nope... Still red x
Tried to do a drain, no valve movement or countdown

 

[cubsfan16]

Mine did not update but did start with the previous version. Successfully brewed the test recipe last night and all went well. How many degrees does the hop tanks bring up the batch temp when drained? In the small test batch it was significant and was wondering if people undershoot the cool temp by a few degrees to compensate?

 

[Still Brewn]

In the small test batch it was significant and was wondering if people undershoot the cool temp by a few degrees to compensate?

I thought about that during my last brew but forgot to take its temperature. It is about 3 guarts of water to fill the hop tanks full with no cages so I guess it could raise the temp a few degrees. I think they have it setup that way to sanitize the drain system. I did remember to pause the draining for a minute once the hose was full just to make sure that everything is good and sterile. I will try to remember to take temps next time I brew. This is why it needs a notes section.

 

[Still Brewn]

Damn.... seems like I'm the only one posting on this thread now.

Anyway, if you have not installed the updated app from the google don't do it if you use the fermentations tab. I just found out it is not in the new google version. Really sucks because I was using it to help build recipes. I'm sure they will bring it back but right now it's gone.

 

[cubsfan16]

Mine still wouldn't download the update but seems to be ok otherwise. I have a ticket in for that. I'm going to try to get my first brew in this weekend.....also have the 600 micron brew basket I'm going to try out. I went to check to see if the apple app was updated yet and opened it on my phone and it said the trial period was over....not sure whats up with that and why a email went out saying it was released but they don't have the apple version released yet?

Im anxious to brew so far I'm impressed with the machine but underwhelmed by the software....seems like the developer is good with graphics but not so good with programming. My Zymatic's software has its quirks but I haven't had the same connection issues I have had with Brewie. Main issues I have had are; when turning on the machine, it shows all the available wifi signals with the one I have connect to before highlighted green but will not start to search for updates and continue booting....requires me to unplug and restart. No way to check for updates once booted up. Need to unplug to reset....shouldn't need to do this. Since I've only brewed a test batch....which went well, I cant speak to any hardware issues.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Booted several times wireless and wired and my machine will not update. Will run maibock 3.0.16 just fine but no update. Once it found an update but didn’t pull it.

My trial iPhone app expired as well, second time for me. Mate has extended my trial period before so just send him an email and you will get a new license, like 60 or 90 days, I can’t remember the exact amount.

[EDIT] Mate just let me know Testflight is done and they are working to fulfill Apple's app requirements to release the app. So no app for iphone users right now.

 

[cubsfan16]

Thanks for the apple update.

Marcel emailed me this morning and said that they were showing that my unit only looked for an update once before and to make sure that I was close enough to my router. I am only 10 feet from my router and it’s a brand new mesh style router so I know I’m close enough. However, I went ahead and started it up again and this time it took the update, so my unit updated to the new software. It seems like they must have did something on their end to allow it to except the update since I had tried it around 10 times previously with no luck. After the update the software did ask to redo the initial cleaning step and calibration so I’ll probably recalibrate before I brew my first batch.

 

[Still Brewn]

Mine still wouldn't download the update but seems to be ok otherwise. I have a ticket in for that.

Mine downloaded the update/started downloading the update and has been a brick on my counter ever since. It will start and connect to app and e can edit recipes but actual function of the machine is a no go.

My trial iPhone app expired as well, second time for me. Mate has extended my trial period before so just send him an email and you will get a new license, like 60 or 90 days, I can’t remember the exact amount.

[EDIT] Mate just let me know Testflight is done and they are working to fulfill Apple's app requirements to release the app. So no app for iphone users right now.

No trial period for google, at least not yet that I have seen. I'm unimpressed with the update for goggle. It seems like a backwards step. I can no longer pick the yeasts or enter each step of frementation.

Im anxious to brew so far I'm impressed with the machine but underwhelmed by the software....seems like the developer is good with graphics but not so good with programming. My Zymatic's software has its quirks but I haven't had the same connection issues I have had with Brewie. Main issues I have had are; when turning on the machine, it shows all the available wifi signals with the one I have connect to before highlighted green but will not start to search for updates and continue booting....requires me to unplug and restart. No way to check for updates once booted up. Need to unplug to reset....shouldn't need to do this.

I've never really had connection issues, I'm not sure what graphics you are talking about , the android version looks exactly like the screen on the machine. Disappointed that the screen doesn't rotate though.
I've never been able to click on the "find Brewie's" tab and have it find something and it doesn't save the IP address so I have to enter that every time.
In 4 brews and countless other start-up's for cleaning, entering or editing recipes, (I've entered a bunch) etc I've never had to unplug the machine to get it to boot properly(until this failed update). The only error I ever had was the 0 minute hop addition. That froze up the progress of the brew, fortunately I was standing right there and unplugged the machine and restarted where it left off with no problems.

 

[Still Brewn]

I have done it this many times since Last Friday or Saturday

 

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I will have to open a new ticket because I haven't hada response all week....

 

[Still Brewn]

So your machine is on the new version? 3.1.***

 

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I just restarted mine and it looked like it was updating software and said it was updating software but didn't .......... hmmm drag out the hard wire I think.

 

[cubsfan16]

Yes, I’m running 3.1 now. Regarding the graphics comment....I just meant everything looks pretty but doesn’t run rock solid. Nothing major just a little annoying. I would suggest putting in a ticket for the update they seemed to do something that allow mine to update on the first try.

 

[Still Brewn]

Yeah putting in a ticket now. Mine definitly tried to update and says 3.1.1 but now I'm in the endless loop of the screen saying "to update software unplug machine" bla bla bla

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I'm very disappointed in this thread. I came here thinking a "Brewie" is some kind of kinky sex act involving beer...

 

[Still Brewn]

I'm very disappointed in this thread. I came here thinking a "Brewie" is some kind of kinky sex act involving beer...

It could be.... I just need to get the latest update and see what is new. Have you ever brewed necked? It's not what you are expecting.... and pray to the gods of beer that you don't splash boiling wort on anything!. Now with finished beer, that could be a different story. Effervescent bubbly bath with the SO, maybe.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

It could be.... I just need to get the latest update and see what is new. Have you ever brewed necked? It's not what you are expecting.... and pray to the gods of beer that you don't splash boiling wort on anything!. Now with finished beer, that could be a different story. Effervescent bubbly bath with the SO, maybe.

I haven't brewed naked, but I have stirred my mash naked once.
Without a spoon...